SadGirl

( Los Angeles , USA // Suicide Squeeze Records )

Surely the people who built Los Angeles on the desert landscape were aware of the delicate balance of their surroundings, but hope springs eternal. And indeed,
LA became a place of dreams realized, even though Mother Nature and the hands of fate often
destroyed those dreams. LA’s SadGirl are acutely aware of that reality, and their analog rock n’
roll has always somehow managed to approximate the relentless optimism of the pioneer spirit,
but they’ve also exuded some degree of self-awareness of the anodyne properties of vintage
pop. With their new album Water, the Los Angeles trio taps into the romantic and nostalgic spirit
of their native city while exuding a time-tested authenticity suggesting that they’ve had a peek
behind the curtain of the manicured lawns, glitzy boulevards, and relentless sunshine.
“If you want to learn about water, go to the desert.” It’s a little nugget of wisdom imparted from
SadGirl’s recording engineer and friend Max Garland, but it made an impact on guitarist/vocalist
Misha Lindes. “Here we are in Los Angeles, a desert, ping-ponging between drought and El
Niño. This record is just an attempt to share a very small portion of my experience growing up
and living here,” Lindes says about the album. “It’s basically just about the fluidity of water and
its power and importance.” But Water isn’t a musical adaptation of a Frank Herbert novel, it’s a
collection of breezy, upbeat pop songs captured with the timbre of old-time recording
techniques. Songs like “Little Queenie” touch upon the cadence, yesteryear reverberations, and
soulful longing of a Ken Boothe ballad. It’s a song for afternoons in the sun, not reflections on
our mortality. Similarly, a classic tormented love song like “Miss Me” nearly transports the
listener back to wholesome slow dances at a previous generation’s sock hop, only to be
subverted by a chorus of “miss me with that bullshit.” It’s as if guitarist/vocalist Misha Lindes,
drummer David Ruiz, and bassist Dakota Peterson want to conjure an idealized past only to
remind us of our loss of innocence.
“Chlorine” similarly plays at our emotions, busting out a Sam Cooke-style love song where the
muse is equally seductive and poisonous. Much like the reverb and vibrato-drenched
instrumental “Hazelnut Coffee”, these upbeat melodies and antiquated sounds seem to
reference some earlier era, and would almost feel subservient to some long-gone ideal if they
didn’t feel at odds with Los Angeles’ current digital amphetamine pulse. Any accusation that
SadGirl’s penchant for classic sounds is rooted in escapism is completely voided by the closing
track “Water”, a sparse acoustic song driven by Lindes’ reflective vocals. “It’s about realizing
your own mortality and changing nature,” the songwriter notes. “It’s meant to be melancholy but
still beautiful in its realization.”
Water was pieced together out of a series of recording sessions from the last two years using a
variety of tape machines in a variety of environments—from living rooms to proper studios.
Taken as a whole, they capture a band summoning the spirit of their surroundings in all its
peaks and valleys. It’s a record steeped in the pop world of the past in order to create a contrast
with our modern age. It’s a sugar-coated reminder of what we’ve lost, what we’ve never had,
and what we’ll eventually lose. Suicide Squeeze is proud to offer up SadGirl’s Water to the
world on June 14, 2019. The album is available on CD, cassette w/ DL coupon, digital formats,
and an initial vinyl pressing of 2000 copies (300 Sparkling Mineral Water green color vinyl –
band exclusive, 500 Reverse Osmosis color vinyl – label exclusive, 1200 pH Balanced blue color
vinyl – distribution copies).